


like an anthem in my heart

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Cat Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Friday the 13th fic, Gen, Identity Reveal, Protective Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), nino is also in this but sorta background, really i am not at all on new ground, that makes it sound like im on new ground for me but i assure you i am NOT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-18 04:18:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20632970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: Adrien ends up making a snap decision- that if he can't avoid the akuma, he can at least make sure that it isn'tChat Noirthat Ladybug has to fight."Claws in," he manages in a frantic wheeze, backing into the side of a building so fast that his back scrapes it.  His claws scrape it, too, when he digs them into the brickwork a moment later, because his transformationdoesn'tdrop andthat'snever happened before.  "Plagg! Plagg, clawsin, please-"He's still trying to detransform when the akuma lands on his bell and sinks in.





	like an anthem in my heart

**Author's Note:**

> happy friday the 13th this has NOT been edited i apologise (because i wanted to post something for friday the 13th and i am VERY out of time)

Chat Noir's already readying his baton to leave when Ladybug stops him.

He blinks down at her hand on his shoulder. "I feel like this is usually the other way around." 

Ladybug huffs out a laugh. "That's because it is, kitty. But I wanted-" She glances around the roof briefly, as though checking to make sure there's no possibility of eavesdroppers.

Considering they're on a relatively secluded rooftop, Adrien privately thinks any eavesdroppers would have to be _really_ determined. 

His Miraculous beeps. It hadn't been a rough fight, so it's not too urgent a warning, but Chat Noir's eyes flick to his ring and then back to Ladybug anyway. _He_ isn't worried, he would love for her to know who he is, but Ladybug is usually more careful than this. "It isn't something you can tell me at patrol later?"

"That's part of it, Chat Noir." Ladybug doesn't take her hand from his shoulder, but she does look away from him as a shadow passes over her face. "I think we should skip patrol tonight. And I don't think you should come out tomorrow at all, if there's any avoiding it."

Chat Noir doesn't recoil at that, but only because it's Ladybug, and even he winces at the amount of hurt in his response. He didn't ever expect _Ladybug_ to tell him he couldn't go out. "What? _Why_?"

"It's just for one day!" Ladybug hastens to assure him, even though that wasn't his question. "It's only one day, Chat, and Carapace agreed to help me out for a day-"

_Now_ Adrien takes a startled step back, feeling much colder than the chill night air warrants as Ladybug's hand slips off his shoulder entirely. 

She reaches after him and he takes another, smaller step back. 

"Chat Noir?" Ladybug's voice wavers, slightly uncertainly. "It's only one day. Please, let me explain-"

Adrien doesn't catch her next few words, shaking his head hard as a buzzing seems to settle in the base of his skull and his ears flatten back without him willing them to. If their suits weren't indestructible, he's sure his clenched fists would be drawing blood as he struggles to choke out, "You- you _are_ replacing- me?"

Ladybug says something else, sounding horror-stricken, and he doesn't hear it as the buzzing sensation gets _louder_, as a rush of betrayal colours his words and sends his tail lashing. 

Adrien's vision has narrowed down almost entirely to Ladybug herself and the scrap of rooftop they're standing on. He never sees the butterfly. 

Ladybug does, though, because she lurches for him and knocks him off his feet before it can connect. 

Chat Noir freezes up under her, staring at her expression as she grimaces after the retreating butterfly, and then his own face falls.

"-of course you are," he mumbles, trying to tug his arm free from where it's ended up pinned under both of them so that he can wipe at his eyes. "I'm sorry, my Lady."

She doesn't let him free his arm entirely, pinning him with her weight and her glare both until he flinches and she relents. "Chat, _listen _to me! I am _not_, and I _would not_, replace you! It's for _one day_, minou, if you would just let me _explain-_" She shifts enough to blow a stray bit of hair out of her face and winces when his ring lets out another beep. 

She shifts enough that when Adrien rolls out of her grip, she's too surprised to stop him. 

_He_ comes very close to stopping when he hears her call, "Chat Noir, _please_-" after him, but in the end he keeps running, jumping off a building and then twisting rapidly through alleyways instead of trying to get any height again.

They play tag often enough that he knows Ladybug will catch him if he doesn't stay below the roofline. He knows, too, that he probably should let Ladybug catch him, that she's never asked anything like this of him before and that he really does need to listen to her explanation. 

But there's too much of a sinking sensation that hits him deep in the chest, too much of an awful confusion of hurt and betrayal both, for him to do the sensible thing and either stop running or turn back.

It isn't until the akuma catches back up with him that Chat Noir realises, with a chill of terror, that not turning back was the worst decision he could have possibly made.

It's too late to try and channel his emotions into something positive, and he definitely can't stop _feeling_ them. 

He doesn't know if Hawkmoth can see him, somehow, if he knows for sure that it's Chat Noir he's targeting right now. They've never been completely able to determine that. They know Hawkmoth can sense _some_ things through his akuma, but aside from the targeted emotions themselves they've never known exactly _what_.

And Adrien ends up making a snap decision- that if he can't avoid the akuma, he can at least make sure that it isn't _Chat Noir_ that Ladybug has to fight.

"Claws in," he manages in a frantic wheeze, backing into the side of a building so fast that his back scrapes it. His claws scrape it, too, when he digs them into the brickwork a moment later, because his transformation _doesn't _drop and _that's _never happened before. "Plagg! Plagg, claws _in_, _please-_"

He's still trying to detransform when the akuma lands on his bell and sinks in.

He has to try and work backwards, later, to figure out what exactly happens. 

They know they aren't immune to the akuma. They _know_ that. Chat Noir's never been targeted before, but Ladybug has admitted that she has, she's gone over ways to ward the butterflies off with him until Adrien would know them in his sleep.

But he hadn't truly been thinking of any of that. He'd been doing a whole lot more _feeling_ than _thinking_, and too much of that feeling had been an awful confusion of hurt and betrayal, and-

He thinks Plagg tried to defend him. He thinks. 

Whatever his kwami did, or is doing, Adrien never hears Hawkmoth. He knows that most people do, that the purple mask he and Ladybug will sometimes catch glimpses of is Hawkmoth's way of contacting his akuma, but Adrien never hears him. Adrien doesn't- doesn't feel all that much different than he did a minute ago, actually, at least not at first.

Not until he tries to step away from the wall and promptly falls over, splashing into a puddle immediately and then letting out a series of spitting hisses rather than the complaints he'd meant to voice as he tries to scramble back upright. 

_Getting_ upright is also- not going very well. His coordination is strangely awful, to the point where it feels like his limbs are refusing to cooperate with the rest of him, and while his tail and ears have gotten generally more reactive the longer he's been Chat Noir they still aren't usually _this_ sensitive. His ears are doing a lot more swivelling than usual, and even now Adrien doesn't have enough practice at filtering out what direction each sound is strongest from for that to be anything but distracting. 

He does manage to wobble onto all fours, even though he still feels strange. He knows _something_ is wrong, he knows the akuma hit and his Miraculous has stopped making any noise-

Adrien hastily looks down at his ring.

And then falls over again.

He can't get coordinated because he's been trying to get to his feet, not to his _paws_.

He struggles back upright, more successfully now that he's not trying to force his body to move in a way that it _can't_, and tries to see his reflection in the same puddle he'd fallen in. It's hard to make out- it's dark out and he'd run far from any streetlights, and he's definitely a black cat, and it's hard to make out details outside of that. He definitely has one white toe on his right front paw where his ring should be, and he-

Adrien blinks and then peers closer, but he's not mistaken. He _does_ have a collar. A red one, with a bell.

-well. He _had_ seen the akuma hit his bell.

He still hasn't heard any kind of voice in his head, or any indication that Hawkmoth is paying attention to him at all, and if anything Adrien's _lost_ any motivation and all the powers he'd started out with. He's not sure how he would activate any form-specific powers right now, but he doesn't _feel_ like he has an ability to go along with his sudden transformation. At the same time he's definitely been akumatized- he'd seen the butterfly. 

Adrien pauses. 

Ten frustrating minutes later, he twists back upright with an unhappy whine. He can't get a good grip on the collar at all, not even with his claws, but he's also not completely sure it isn't the same material as their suits. He doesn't know, either, if the akuma is in the collar or the bell but _he_ can't break either one. 

He needs Ladybug. 

Even if Ladybug was still trying to follow him, and she might have been since they'd both seen the akuma the first time, he should have transformed back by now and she definitely has. She's probably not nearby anymore.

But Adrien is having a really hard time coming up with a better idea, so he finally turns and starts heading back the way he'd come. 

Or rather, _trying_ to. 

The alleys look a whole lot different from ground level, and he hadn't started on the ground in the first place, and Chat Noir has a stamina that Adrien-cat evidently does not share. Chat Noir cat? Plagg isn't with him, so he must not have dropped his transformation when he'd tried to after all. He could really use Plagg's help right about now, too. 

Adrien tries to find his way back to Ladybug for what feels like hours. It probably isn't, but he's having a lot of difficulty telling time very well, and he doesn't know how many near-identical alleys he's been down tonight. He doesn't know if they're the same alleys from earlier, or if he recognises them from patrols, or if they just _look_ like familiar alleys when they actually aren't.

By the time the rain starts again in earnest, he's too tired and sore to keep looking. Running on all fours is, technically, something he _does_ a lot and he hadn't considered that the same distances as an actual cat would feel like so much more.

And he _still_ has no idea where he is.

He doesn't want to stay out by the streets, not when he feels ready to fall over from exhaustion. He's not entirely sure what people are likely to do if they see a black cat trying to nap in a doorway somewhere, even if he does have a collar, and he's not willing to find out just yet. 

After the fourth cardboard box that turns out to already be inhabited in a row, he thinks he might be. 

"I had no idea there-" His mouth snaps shut. He'd been going to say _I had no idea there were so many rats down here_, because he's usually up much higher and because said rats aren't usually_ larger than he is_, but that's not what he'd managed. He's only meowing a lot, and _loudly_ at that, and that's definitely not the way to avoid attention. 

Although maybe he _wants_ attention. Maybe if he gets someone's attention, they'll bring him somewhere that it'll be easier to contact Ladybug from.

Maybe they'll bring him to a shelter and Ladybug will _never _find out what's happened to him.

Adrien lets out a miserable whine and slumps over his front paws. He doesn't _know_ what to do. 

He wonders unhappily if Carapace would know what to do.

He wonders why _Carapace_, for that matter. Adrien has been more than a little scared of losing Ladybug's attention and affection with each new hero that surfaced, and he really likes Carapace and Rena Rouge both himself, but- if Ladybug wants a different partner for today, why Carapace?

It's only at _what does Carapace have that I don't _that Adrien recognises the self-destructive spiral for what it is. 

He almost lets himself wallow in it anyway, because as far as he can tell he's _already_ been akumatized, so what's more negative emotion on top of it? 

But he still hasn't heard Hawkmoth at all. There's still no mask, no purple glow, and it's been maybe-hours. He definitely doesn't have any powers. _Whatever_ Adrien currently is, he doesn't think he's actually an active akuma, and he'd still very much like it to _stay _that way. 

In the end he finds an out-of-the-way doorstep to sleep in. He's not really out of the rain, but he's soaked through already so it isn't like it matters. He's so tired that he falls straight asleep anyway. 

He wakes up as disoriented as he's ever been. 

Partly for all of the obvious reasons, but also because there are two people leaning over him with an umbrella, and the moment he realises that Adrien's heart leaps into his throat and he scrambles frantically backwards. He really _doesn't_ want to end up at a shelter; he didn't want to think about it in detail before, but he's volunteered at a shelter as Chat Noir enough times to know that he doesn't want to go there _now_. 

He doesn't think he can get back _out_ now.

Adrien fetches up against the closed door almost immediately, though, and then shivers there uncomfortably because the way the two new people are crouched and kneeling is very thoroughly blocking off his escape routes short of scratching them. He doesn't _want_ to hurt them.

"-what do we do?" the first one says, in a low voice, and Adrien's been panicking enough that it actually takes him a minute to place Nino's voice.

He expects the second person to be Alya, then, but it's Marinette who says, "I think getting him out of the rain first is probably the best idea. Look at the way he's shaking."

Adrien is suddenly acutely aware that he can't stop trembling, from cold and fear and exhaustion all slamming into him, and he lets out an involuntary whimper when Marinette reaches out to pick him up. 

She pauses. 

Gently, she says, "Hey, Nino? Do you still have a spare shirt in your bag?"

"How do you even _know_ about-" But Nino is already digging through his bag, and he shortly hands over another shirt to Marinette. "Yeah, here."

It's a really soft shirt. 

Adrien has good reason to know that, because Marinette very firmly wraps it around _him_ before she picks him up.

It feels enough like Ladybug carrying them both in a fight that Adrien clings tighter to her, inhales, and blinks heavy eyes up at Marinette and Nino both as he tries not to fall back asleep. 

"Now what?" Nino asks as Marinette straightens and carefully pats the edges of the shirt in around Adrien. "Didn't you say you had to help your folks today? And I've got, uh." He looks oddly guilty as he shifts his gaze away from Marinette and down towards Adrien. "I've got other obligations, too." 

"My parents don't know class got cancelled," Marinette says, shrugging and resettling Adrien more securely. "No one knows where anyone's supposed to be right now." 

"Yeah..." Nino trails off. When Marinette turns to look at him, he shrugs and says, "It's just a shame that Adrien was sick today. Dude coulda used a day where no one really knew where he was, right?" He sighs. "Man, he coulda actually spent the day with _us_ for once."

Adrien muffles a snort at that, but it's not like they'd have understood it anyway. 

Marinette, interestingly, only reddens and mumbles something in response to Nino.

Nino laughs a little, awkwardly. "I gotta get going anyway, dude. My, uh, my thing isn't supposed to be 'til later but it might be- earlier now?" He rubs the back of his neck and doesn't look at Marinette. "Maybe? I'm not sure. But I should probably go get ready anyway."

Marinette doesn't ask Nino what his previous obligation is before he leaves, which is a shame, because Adrien would have liked to know. If he can't find Ladybug he wouldn't mind staying with Nino for a while. 

Adrien feels his ears pin back. Marinette and Nino are about the best possible people to find him, short of Ladybug herself, but _now what?_

Ladybug's said before that she knows Marinette. If Adrien can get Marinette to take him home, he has to run into Ladybug eventually. He thinks. 

Adrien cuddles as close to Marinette as he can get and starts to purr, trying to make himself as cute as possible, before it catches up to him that Marinette's _just_ made it sound like she isn't going home. 

His anxiety rockets up another several notches. He doesn't want to go to a shelter if he can avoid it. He knows black cats have low adoption rates. Which _shouldn't matter_, if he could just change back, but-

But he doesn't know why he hasn't. Hawkmoth _can_ take akuma back, they've seen him do it. This one isn't accomplishing anything right now and it's rare that Hawkmoth seems to be able to akumatize more than one person at a time. It's _weird_ that he'd let his powers be tied up by one person for so long when they aren't going after Chat Noir or Ladybug. 

Well, he _is_ sort of going after Ladybug, but he needs her _help_.

Adrien's fur prickles uncomfortably at that thought, though, because- he _is_ going after Ladybug. And he _is_ akumatized. Just because something's gone awry doesn't mean Hawkmoth might not still have some level of control. 

Maybe Adrien should stay away from Ladybug after all. Maybe she was right to choose Carapace instead. 

If whatever's gone wrong with _him_ is keeping Hawkmoth from akumatizing anyone else, maybe Adrien shouldn't be trying to break the collar at all. 

He shakes his head at that thought, hard, and leans into Marinette's hands when she starts to pet him absently. Nino is _already_ talking about wanting to spend time with him, and it hasn't even been a day. Adrien knows there are people who would miss him. He _knows_ that. That feeling that it would be better if he simply vanished- he thinks that's the akuma talking. 

The akuma, and the fact that Nino seems to think he's sick. 

Adrien's not sure who would notice first that he wasn't in his room this morning. Definitely not his father, and at one point it would always have been Nathalie, but- Nathalie hasn't been the one to check on him as often recently, either. For the past several weeks the only time anyone seems to check is if Adrien _isn't_ where he's supposed to be, and then it's usually the Gorilla.

He considers that as Marinette shifts her umbrella over them both and turns to start walking. Adrien had been fairly certain already that the Gorilla had started to cover for him at some point, but by now he's had proof. There _have_ been times that his bodyguard would have had every reason to report to Father that Adrien was off somewhere doing something he wasn't supposed to but the Gorilla never has ratted him out. 

Adrien is distracted by that, but not enough to miss it when Marinette takes a sharp sudden turn and ducks into a hidden garden. 

He looks around in distress, because he tries to keep an eye out for discreet places to transform and he had no idea this was here. It's a perfect spot, too, he never would have seen it on his own. 

"All right, kitty," Marinette mutters, closing her eyes and letting go of him enough to rub at her forehead with one hand before looking down at him. "I can't leave you on your own out here. It's Friday the 13th, kitty, didn't you know?" She drops her hand again, crushing him surprisingly close for a moment in a way that startles another purr out of him. Breathing more than a little raggedly, he thinks Marinette might actually be crying when she says, "It's not safe for you to be out, cat. _Please_."

That- didn't sound entirely like it was about him. 

Adrien tries, out of habit, to ask her if she's okay only to droop in her arms when he can't say it. 

Marinette giggles at his meowing anyway, lifting her head and then scratching him under the chin. "Sorry, chaton, it's not _your _fault. I'm just _really_ worried about my best friend right now."

Adrien barely has enough time to wonder what's going on with Alya before Marinette continues.

"I tried to explain," she says, almost in a whisper, before her hand brushes his collar and she giggles. "Oh- you even have a bell like him. Someone's a fan, huh?" She scratches harder and he leans into her hand with a purr, even though he's floundering mentally at her words. He _does_ go to see Marinette sometimes, but since when is Chat Noir her best friend? "Weird, you have a collar and a bell but no tags... I guess I should see if you have a microchip, huh. It's gonna have to be later, though, I need to go and I can't take you home so- so I hope you can keep a secret, kitty."

Adrien definitely can, but he still squirms, because his classmate is uncomfortable around him a lot of the time and she doesn't know she's spilling secrets to _him_, but Marinette only adjusts her hold before reaching to open her purse. "Tikki?"

Adrien freezes. 

"Marinette, are you sure you don't want to get Nino first?" the kwami- her kwami- _Ladybug's kwami_\- asks as she flits out, darting in an agitated circle around Marinette- _Ladybug's_ head before dropping down to hover in front of them. "You need backup!"

"And I'll _have _backup, as soon as I find him," Marinette insists, squeezing Adrien tighter without apparently intending to. "No one's seen him since, Tikki, what if he's in trouble? I have to find him!"

Tikki sighs and drops down a little further. "I know, Marinette. He was really upset." 

"He was almost akumatized!" Marinette returns, even more agitated, and then lowers her voice. "I just wanted him to be careful, I know- I _know_ you've both said Plagg's not _really_ unlucky, but Tikki, I've been so much luckier since I met you, what if you're _wrong_? What if-" Her voice wavers again. "He gets hurt so often, I didn't want to risk it being _worse_ just because it's a Friday the 13th!" 

Adrien feels more than a little stunned, but he finally recovers enough to start meowing frantically. It's too late, he _knows_ it's too late, he's already heard more than he can possibly forget but- but usually when someone's akumatized they don't _remember_ it later, if he can just get her to break the collar she'll be safe again. 

Because this is a very vivid demonstration of why she's never wanted to share their identities. He _still_ doesn't know for sure if Hawkmoth has a way to listen in.

Tikki giggles and flits over to perch on his back, peering down at him with interest. "Oh wow, he really does have a bell just like Chat Noir's. His collar's got spots, too!"

It does? Adrien hadn't known that. 

Adrien doesn't know exactly how he feels about that. 

He whimpers and tries to paw at the collar again, trying desperately to indicate that he wants it _off_.

"Maybe later, kitty," Marinette tells him, gently pushing his paw away. "It's not safe out for you, either. At least if people think you already have a home you're not so much of a target." 

"Marinette?" Tikki is circling Adrien now, looking at him with a growing level of concern. "Marinette, wait, something's-"

"Tikki, I can't keep waiting, I have to find him," Marinette says, and then before Tikki can follow up with anything else, "Spots on!"

It was one thing to see her talking to her kwami. It's another entirely to see her transform. He knew, he knew as soon as he saw Tikki, but it's a much more _concrete_ sort of knowledge now that he's seen her actual transformation.

She doesn't let go of him.

Instead Ladybug, still cradling him gently even after her transformation, takes him to a shaded corner of the hidden garden and kneels down. "I know this isn't the best place, kitty, but it's dry and it's hidden and you should stay away from the main streets. I'll come back for you, okay?" She inhales, and when she lets her breath back out she sounds choked up. "I promise I'll come back for you."

Adrien clings to her and starts meowing frantically, because she's leaving him _to look for him_. She obviously isn't going to succeed and he doesn't want her to leave him _and_ he doesn't know how long she'll be gone, he doesn't want her to leave him. 

He doesn't want her to leave so badly that he sinks his claws into her suit for purchase, something he would normally _never_ do because he would never risk causing her any harm, but if she leaves him-

The akuma is dormant right now, or however dormant an akuma can be. If she leaves him _now_ he doesn't want to find out that another wave of negative emotions can _activate _it.

The next time he checks Ladybug is staring down at where his claws are hooked into her suit, looking like she's missed a leap they've made a hundred times. "What- These suits are indestructible, kitty, how in the world are you-" Her eyes go wide. "_Kitty?_" 

Adrien switches from meowing to purring as loudly as he can, shoving his head insistently into her hands before meowing again. 

"Oh," Ladybug breathes, suddenly gathering him much closer and pressing her head against his. "Oh, chaton, I've been so worried! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean- I didn't, I _never_ meant-" She stops and hugs him tighter. "I would _never_ replace you, Chat Noir, I was scared for you! I was scared of- of something like _this_, Chat, what _happened _to you?"

Adrien meows and squirms until he can paw at the collar again, twisting around as much as she'll let him to make the bell obvious. 

Ladybug gnaws on her lip as she looks between the bell and his eyes. "That's where the akuma was heading, before. Kitty, are you _akumatized_?"

Adrien shrugs uncomfortably, as best as he can. He's still not clear on that himself. He _thinks_ he is but none of this is normal. 

Ladybug obviously realises the same thing right away. Her eyebrows knot together as she says, "But you don't seem to have any powers." Her voice turns gently scolding as she adds, "At least I _hope_ you don't, if you just _decided_ to take a nap in a doorway in the rain I'm never letting you forget it."

As soon as she's said that, though, she falters.

He nudges against her hand, purring again. 

"Sorry," Ladybug says, nearly inaudibly, and very gently sets him on his feet. "Stay here a second? I'm just going to call Lucky Charm, okay?"

Adrien stays. He wouldn't have left anyway, but he's glad she explained. 

The Lucky Charm is a pair of scissors. 

He flops over on his side, tilting his head so that she can reach his collar without any effort. 

Her hesitation makes his heart fall. 

"Chat Noir, it's okay," Ladybug says hastily when his purring drops off in volume. "I'm going to break it, I just don't know if you were transformed or not before." 

_He_ doesn't know. He never saw Plagg, so he _thinks _he was, but he also wasn't akumatized the same way anyone else has been. 

He starts to shake his head at Ladybug, stops, nods, then shakes his head again. 

"How can you not know?" Ladybug asks him, distressed, but she doesn't seem to expect an answer. "Well- I guess I'll know in a moment. We both will." Wincing a little, she lowers the scissors to his collar and very, _very_ carefully cuts it. 

Nothing happens.

"Oh I am gonna feel _really dumb_ if I've been talking a cat this whole time," Ladybug mutters, picking up the collar and turning it over in her hands. The bell jingles.

She looks between Adrien and the collar for a moment, before slowly clenching her fist around the bell. 

It doesn't actually break- it _crumples_, and the akuma flutters weakly out instead of flying off. The akuma doesn't seem like it _can_ fly. It flops pathetically on the ground, instead, and as Adrien watches her hastily purify it he feels himself change this time. 

"If we could _never do that again_, kid," Plagg starts tiredly, and Adrien starts and turns towards his kwami as the little cat coughs harshly. "I am _not _meant to do that."

"Plagg," Adrien says, voice and throat both tight as he reaches for his kwami and Plagg nestles into his hands. "What did you _do_?"

"Kept you from really gettin' akumatized." Plagg sounds at least as exhausted as Adrien had felt earlier. "Which has never come up before, kid, so don't ask me just how it works. I don't know either. But you owe me _all the cheese_." 

"Thank you," Adrien tells him fervently. "You can have all the cheese you _want_, Plagg, _thank you_."

"You didn't forget anything." Ladybug's voice is faint and strangled. 

Adrien turns to look at her, because he really has no reason not to. _Her_ eyes are tightly shut. "I-I didn't. I guess because Plagg kept me from getting totally akumatized?" He's probably holding his kwami close to as tightly as Ladybug had been holding _him_. "I. Um." He ducks his head and suggests, shyly, "Maybe if you use the Lucky Charm, that will reset things? I, I know you didn't want me to know."

When he looks up again, Ladybug's eyelids are fluttering as she frowns at the Lucky Charm in her hand. Slowly, haltingly, she says, "It isn't as though you did any damage, though. There's- there's nothing to fix."

Adrien sits down abruptly when the enormity of that statement hits him. He really kind of has to; his legs give out from under him.

Ladybug's eyes fly open. "Are you oka- _Adrien?_" She chokes. 

"Surprise?" He waves awkwardly, then takes her stunned silence as an opportunity. "I'm sorry, my Lady, I shouldn't have doubted you. I should have known you had a reason." 

"_Adrien_?" Ladybug repeats, wheezing more than a little.

"Yes?" he says anxiously, trying to get back to his feet before she waves him back down. 

"It's nothing," Ladybug gasps, dropping to the ground herself. "I'm just, you're a prize. Surprised! I'm surprised!"

He lets go of Plagg with one hand so that he can reach for Ladybug with the other. "I'm not. Except that I never saw it, maybe."

"R-really?" Ladybug asks weakly. She looks down at Plagg and winces. "Oh, that's something we should probably talk about. Um." She brushes back an escaped strand of hair. "Tikki, spots off."

Even though he'd seen her initial transformation, Adrien's just as enthralled watching this time. Marinette has so many of the qualities he's always admired in Ladybug that he feels like he should have known it was her sooner. He's always thought a little wistfully that he'd be able to pick his partner out of a civilian line-up and while it does hurt to realise how untrue that is, knowing that she's in so much of his life more than makes up for it.

"I tried to tell you!" Tikki flutters around them both, agitated, and then dives down closer to Plagg. "Plagg, what did you _do_?"

Plagg mutters something and rouses, and Adrien realises he's not entirely sure his kwami hadn't been asleep. He also realises that they don't have food and Plagg has to be desperate for cheese by now. "Exactly what he needed me to. An' I do _not_ recommend it, it is _terrible_."

"Thank you," Adrien tells him again, guilt welling up. 

Plagg doesn't move very much, and he doesn't look any less tired, but he does turn to glare at Adrien long enough to say, "This was not your fault."

"No, it was my fault, I shouldn't have made you feel like I would ever replace you." Marinette draws her knees up to her chest, not looking at him, and if that's what she has to do to process then Adrien isn't going to stop her. "Chat Noir, I would _never_ replace you, you're my _partner_."

"Marinette, it isn't your fault either." Tikki goes to Marinette and lands lightly on her shoulder. "It's Hawkmoth targeting people, remember?" 

Marinette doesn't reply, but she does eye Plagg and Adrien both before rummaging in her purse and coming back up with several cookies. She offers Tikki one immediately, but then she offers the rest first to Plagg and then to Adrien. "I can't believe Nino and I found you. I guess Plagg's really _not _unlucky."

Adrien takes his hand away from his neck, where he'd been rubbing absently without realising it, and offers it to Marinette instead. "I guess it's a good thing class was cancelled, huh?" 

She laughs, and it's a lot closer to Ladybug's laughter at Chat's teasing than it is to Marinette's more nervous laughter. "Very. But I think Nino's going to be disappointed if he doesn't get to see you, too."

They have a whole lot to talk about and this little hidden space is _by far_ the best place they have for it, because Adrien is absolutely not going to ask Plagg to transform him right now, but that makes Adrien think of something he'd heard earlier. "Hey... why _did _Tikki say you should get Nino, anyway?"

Marinette flushes and doesn't look at him. "I'd asked Carapace for help today, minou- _Adrien_. I know you're smart enough to work that one out."

Oddly, knowing that the backup she'd wanted is _Nino_ helps almost as much as knowing that she'd been trying to keep _him_ safe in the first place.

"Should you be telling me that?" he asks lightly, even though there actually is a tight feeling in his chest at the idea. "You don't want me to know _everyone's_ identity."

Marinette's laugh this time is shaky. "Oh, minou. I think you just proved our identities are probably safer with you than they are with _me_." She finally meets his eyes, and her expression softens as she adds, "And I trust you more than anything, Chat. Don't ever doubt that."

He smiles back. "Well, I trust _you_, and you're the one saying it, so I guess I have to believe you now."

**Author's Note:**

> considering its me, if youre wondering whether adrien has a way to access that transformation after this then y e a h


End file.
